The Shadow of Doubt
Eagle opened his eyes, and looked above his rifle-turned-crude-barrier. He was shocked, as was the brute chieftain, to see Kai on the other end, defending against the gravity hammer expertly with his brute shot shield.
The admiral shoved the hammer rudely aside, before firing several rounds out of the brute shot, sending the chieftain flying backward.
Kai rubbed his injured head, a blackened char where the plasma round had hit. “So, what’d I miss?” He fired into a mass of brutes, dazing them momentarily.
Eagle stood, mouth agape. “How is that possible? You should be dead!”
Kai cackled loudly, to Eagle’s discomfort as he shifted his sniper rifle uneasily. “It’s going to take more than a headshot to take me down!” Kai shouted defiantly.
Bertha ran to their position, as did Viper. They sprayed down nearing jackals and grunts, deterring them away from their position.
“Good to see you alive, Kai.” Viper said tersely. “Come on, we have to get to the ‘hog!”
“Yes, sir!” Eagle saluted. He eyed Kai warily, before dashing off to the garage, firing and reloading as he sprinted.
Bertha and Viper also turned toward the hangar, but Kai continued to combat the alien horde. He reloaded his weapon, before using the diabolic blade of the brute shot to slice through a brute.
“Kai!” Viper screamed. “Aren’t you coming!?”
“No way!” Kai laughed. “I’m having way too much fun here!” He jumped into the midst of a squad of grunts, frightening and dispersing them.
Viper looked at the chaos for a second, before motioning to Bertha to head back.
She began, “but sir–“
“Don’t worry about him!” Viper shouted. “He’ll be fine on his own.” He gunned down a raging brute, before running away.
Bertha watched Kai uncertainly for a second, before following Viper down to the garage.
A loud vroom erupted from the hangar, as the warthog roared to life. The silent squeaks of the rotating chaingun was indistinguishable under the sound of the engine. Aura revved the vehicle a few more times, while Crackshot steadied the gyroscopic stabilizers of the gun; it was going to be a bumpy ride. Viper hopped on a nearby mongoose, a small but quick military all-terrain vehicle, with Eagle in tow, gun in hand. Bertha jumped shotgun to the warthog, fuel rod gun glowing ominously.
Both vehicles shot out of the garage with amazing acceleration. Several Covenant closing in on the location squawked in surprise as the warthog seemed to jump right at them; they were mowed down without remorse. The chaingun began its violent symphony, as round after round ripped apart a line of jackals.
The warthog rounded a wraith; it began dropping bombs after the jeep, but each mortar ultimately fell short, the vehicle’s powerful engine easily breezing by the explosives. The mongoose, a few hundred meters away, running down grunts as if they were little more than speed bumps. Eagle sighted the wraith from a distance; as it turned away to challenge the ‘hog, it revealed its vulnerable exhaust port. Eagle fired in quick succession, and the tank was soon scrap metal.
“Now this is more like it!” The sniper growled. He punched the cartridge out of the rifle, letting it drop onto the grass and dirt and blood. He slipped in the next rounds with a satisfying clack, before resuming his ghoulish task.
The army, which had both outnumbered and outgunned the six human soldiers in the ambush, was now in disarray and discord, as brutes recklessly charged into the line of fire, only to run through friendly fire, and grunts and jackals panicked into a half-retreat. The ‘hog’s fiery entrance, supported by the mongoose, pushed the Covenant back to the training grounds.
There, Kai continued to duel numerous brutes and several hunters who dared to challenge him. The floor was littered with the glass of heated earth and the bodies of his victims; the bloods mingled into an ominous blur. His cackles and screeches did little to unnerve his alien foes, but the split-second hesitance was all he needed to run them through with an energy sword, as he swiveled to batter aside the next combatant with his brute shot shield.
Viper, Eagle, Bertha, Crackshot and Aura swept around the admiral, sweeping away the remaining brutes and hunters, as well as any unfortunate grunts and jackals in the area. Eagle blasted a particularly grating sniper who harassed the team with a focus rifle; the round exploded through the avian’s head, and the body crumpled to a bloody mess.
“Need a lift?” Viper asked.
“No thanks!” Kai responded, still weaving around a persistent brute captain, who armed himself with a pair of spiker rifles. He roared, and emptied both guns aimlessly in Kai’s direction; every shot missed. He followed his clumsy attacks with physical force, hoping to catch the admiral in the sharp blades of the spikers. “I’ve got it all under control!” The admiral yelled nonchalantly.
Kai backed away, and fired the concussive rounds of the brute shot straight into the beast’s face, until he stumbled and finally fell.
“Wraith!” Aura shouted.
A plasma bomb arced over the horizon. The ‘goose drove away at a sharp angle to avoid the impact. Kai leapt out of the way as the mortar shattered the earth that he had only moments ago walked on; the brute carcass left there was vaporized.
“It’s mine!” The admiral screamed reassuringly, blazing a trail toward the Covenant tank. The large vehicle sluggishly reversed, lobbing more bombs downrange, while its turret operator let loose an unrelenting stream of plasma. Kai dodged these threats with little issue, before jumping on the hood of the wraith, and embedding the brute shot deep into the shoulder of the turret operator.
Even as the blood began to pool into the operator’s seat, Kai weaved to the back of the wraith, and jammed his knifle into the exhaust port. Yanking it out, he ran back several steps to watch his labor blossom into a flora of pink and purple toxic, electric mist of energy and metal.
Kai whooped a cheer of approval, before continuing on to his grisly deed.
Viper, Eagle and the mongoose circled around the destruction once, before zooming away for new enemies.
“Damn!” The sniper said. “What the hell’s wrong with this guy!?”
“Nothing.” Viper replied sternly. “That’s what makes him Kai.”
“What?” Eagle asked.
“Never mind.” The captain dismissed. “Let’s end this firefight now.”
The mongoose slowed toward a pair of brutes, notably annoyed and loudly roaring angrily at each other.
“What do you mean the army’s been decimated!?” Growled the brute chieftain. A bead of sweat dropped from his arrogant face onto his ornate golden armor.
“The humans had several defense mechanisms.” The apish captain explained rashly. His armor was a dark blue, blackened by combat. “And then there was that sixth person. He–“
But he did not get the chance to finish; a bloom of blood exploded from his chest. He dropped like a rock, revealing an adamant human behind him, shotgun raised menacingly. Behind him, another human exited a small all-terrain vehicle, wielding a sniper rifle. The chieftain roared in defiance, and unslung his weapon: a large plasma turret. Normally used on a pedestal, this brute violently swung the weapon in an arc, sweeping the landscape with hellish purple-white plasma.
Viper dropped in response, ducking under the hot wave of plasma, while Eagle jet-packed over it; the mongoose, however, took a direct hit, bursting into flames as hot fire licked at its chassis. Eagle fired a pair of rounds, forcing the chieftain to dodge with the unwieldy gear. Viper took this time to close the distance, firing shell after shell as he got closer. The rounds took their toll as the shields of the chieftain’s armor flared, then sputtered.
But by then the brute had shifted his inertia, and brought the turret around in a wide swing. Viper jumped over the weapon with relative ease; the angular momentum continued to drag the chieftain off to the side. The captain saw his opening, and fired.
The shotgun responded with a hollow click.
Sensing an opportunity, the chieftain roared in triumph, leveled his turret, and fired. Viper sped off to the side, out of the cone of fire, but a few plasma rounds scratched at his shields.
With Viper out of the close quarters, Eagle clacked a round into the chamber, and fired. The first round glanced off, but it drained the struggling shields. The second round went wide, punching an ugly hole through the brute’s armored leg. He groaned, and dropped to his uninjured leg in agony.
The captain, who was running the wide arc to avoid plasma fire, completed his circle, unsheathing an energy sword. Without losing speed, he ran right past the brute in golden armor; the sword, held a good distance off, sliced cleanly through the beast. Not until Viper slowed near the sniper, silencing his weapon, did the deceased brute begin to bleed.
The torso gently slid off the lower half, drenching the once shiny armor in a dull red paint.
“It’s over.”